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LETTERS

From Will GreenThe extremely informative article by Francis Cole about language chaos in the EC (European Voice, volume 2, issue 8) is, of course, only the tip of the iceberg. And what a big iceberg it is.

European Voice

3/13/96, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 1:04 AM CET

Have you ever thought that the MEPs who stand up to speak in the Parliament never speak to each other – nor do they take any notice of what one another is saying?

They all listen to the voice of an interpreter who, as his title tells us, gives his interpretation of the speech – not a full translation. Then the speech, which has usually already been printed, and is possibly being read by the interpreter, is sent to the translating department where the full translation is done. So no repartee, no spontaneous questions, no immediate reaction to the speeches are possible. No wonder attendance is small.

The lesson of the Tower of Babel is clear. You cannot work together if you cannot speak together. If you don’t have a common language, your edifice is doomed.

Just think – if every schoolchild in Europe began to learn Esperanto in September, by the following summer every single child would be able to chat and play with every other single child. That’s how easy Esperanto is. Then think of the savings in lifetime learning, in hard cash, in the easing of interrelations.

Then the place of every national language would be protected by our not having to learn them and our struggle not to deface them with mistakes. Think how English is debased by interference from other languages.

Kun Kora Saluto.

Will GreenLondonFrom Hans-Werner MüllerI write regarding “Bid to extend social dialogue” (European Voice, volume 2, issue 9). In this article, UNICE tries, once again, to justify its monopoly in the social dialogue by saying that “half of UEAPME’s members are also directly or indirectly members of UNICE”.

Even if one repeats this statement over and over again, it does not mean that it becomes the truth. UEAPME has proved many times that UNICE’s statements are false.

We do not deny that in some countries, such as Spain and Portugal, there is an overlap between our respective members. However, the example of Germany illustrates the absurdity of UNICE’s arguments. The ZDH (Central Union of Skilled Crafts in Germany), with 750,000 enterprises and more than7 million employees is, of course, represented in Brussels by UEAPME. In Germany, the ZDH plays a major role in the social dialogue and is a policy-making partner beside big industry, which is a member of UNICE. Big industry, agriculture and skilled crafts/trades work together in a coordinating body in the German Employers’ Organisation. While this German Employers’ Organisation is a member of UNICE, UNICE states that it speaks for German skilled crafts/trades.

It is only with tricks like this that UNICE can present such ridiculous figures. If that were the case, UNICE could also speak for German agriculture.

In the social dialogue, the important question is “who wants to be represented by whom?”. The Commission and UNICE have to consider the fact that millions of SMEs in Europe do not want to be represented by UNICE.

What would the liberal group in the European Parliament say if the EPP group proposed to take all the seats in the social committee, stating that they will do the work of the liberals too?

If the Commission and UNICE do not attempt to change this undemocratic situation very soon, the social dialogue will not have a future.

Hans-Werner MüllerSecretary-General of UEAPMEFrom Harald & Hilary BungartenRory Watson’s article (European Voice, volume 2, issue 10) on the Belgian government’s EU commitments (or rather lack of) as the host nation to the Union is quite revealing. If the government is not in a position to fulfil its obligations set out in the treaties it signed, then why not simply renegotiate them?

This would relieve it of all this hassle, the European institutions would be able to get on with their business without all these delays and what a happier world it would be for pupils in the European schools!

The government’s attitude towards the European school highlights its unwillingness to pressure the communes into action. Both the Zaventem and WSL communes have been aware of the school’s situation for years, but have simply refused to act in a manner which would resolve it.

Instead, they have stonewalled and, in the last year, resorted to tactics such asre-zoning land across from the school as a zone paysagère, effectively blocking any new construction.

Other excuses for denying permission to expand are that the residents are fed up with the traffic and the noise. This reasoning rings rather hollow when one discovers that throughout the ten years the school has been requesting extra property, the commune of WSL has itself been adding to the increased traffic problems and noise by permitting the construction of apartments and office buildings on adjacent streets.

As far as the parents are concerned, the issue of usingthe empty school in Berkendael does not even come into question. It is completely unsuitable and to spend 7.7 million ecu to refurbish it is even more ridiculous. The money would be better spent in acquiring the adjacent land surrounding the Woluwe school and building the appropriate infrastructure which has been needed for the past decade.

Harald & HilaryBungartenParents Representatives, BrusselsFrom Neophytos L. PapaneophytouElizabeth Wise, in her article “IGC goals founder in the Aegean”, (European Voice, volume 2, issue 9) states: “As the dispute over an uninhabited Aegean rock threatens the fate of EU-Turkey relations and the eventual enlargement of the Union (if Greece blocks the entry of Cyprus, how can Malta and the CEECs be let in?), EU governments watch in horror as an apparently small wave becomes a tempest which they are not sure they can control.”To begin with, I am confident that the words of Niccolo Machiavelli (in The Art of War), would suffice as to her point regarding the “small wave” over “an uninhabited Aegean rock”: “… Nor can men who practise war as a profession act in any other way, since their profession does not prosper in peacetime. Therefore, such men must either hope for no peace or profit from times of war in such a manner that they can live off that profit in times of peace. Neither of these thoughts is found in a good man, for the desire to be able to support oneself at all times leads to theft, acts of violence, and the murderous deeds that such soldiers perpetrate on their friends and foes alike … For those who do not know how to live by another means and cannot find anyone who will hire them, not having enough ability to join together to commit an honourable act … are forced by necessity to become highway robbers, and justice is forced to execute them.”Secondly, I am not quite sure I understand what Elizabeth Wise means by: “If Greece blocks the entry of Cyprus …” I wonder, is that a pragmatic assumption?

Thirdly, I believe democracy, and freedom of thought and expression, find their origins in ancient Greece. Greece threatens no one, nor does it have any territorial claims over any neighbouring countries.

Greeks have always respected and adhered to every international treaty they have signed.

Greece has always safeguarded its sovereign rights, which emanate from its statehood; hence its alienable right to deter any threat, and protect its islands, its continental shelf and, of course, its mainland.

I sincerely hope Europeans do view the Aegean Sea as their frontier and south eastern periphery border and, as such, act accordingly in the future.

Had the ancient Greek philosophers been alive today, they would have agreed with me that this would be the honourable thing to do.